Dental Hygiene School
My original career plan was to be a dental hygienist. I had all the pre-requisites, experience in a dentist office and the grades to get into the program. I applied two years in a row and was rejected twice.
Lesson Learned: While I didn't get into the program, I found value in the classes and experiences I had while working towards that goal. Plus I learned that I loved digital media and web technologies so much more.
Utah.com
It came down to me and one other person for the Utah.com product manager position in 2018. Ultimately, the other person got it. She decided to leave a month later and I was asked to come back and interview. They hired me pretty much on the spot.
Lesson Learned: Never give up on getting the job you want.
Climbing Mt. Rainier
Due to a previous chest infection, I couldn't breathe very well and was slowing my team down on our way to the top of Mt. Rainier. I made the decision to turn back so I wouldn't be a danger to myself and to my team members.
Lessons Learned: When you're on a team, you put the team first. There are times when you need to push through and times, when you need to turn back, knowing the difference is important.
Mock Trial in High School
I was one of the lawyers in the mock trial. I didn't win the case. I was also told I was "too nice" to be a lawyer.
Lesson Learned: Law school wasn't the right career path for me.
High School Basketball Team
I didn't make the High School Girl's Basketball team my Freshman year. I would have kept trying out, but a car accident and illness caused me to miss 6 months of school. I spend the rest of my high school experience making up what I had missed.
Lesson Learned: Priorities. I learned that graduating from high school was more important than being on the basketball team.
College Tennis Class
I lost every game I played throughout the course of the semester. I couldn't ever get the hang of aiming. It either hit the net or went over the fence.
Lesson Learned: Tennis wasn't for me and I was much better suited to hockey and softball.
Fjallraven Polar - Norwegian Dogsledding Expedition Contest
I crave adventure like most people crave chocolate. Twice, I applied and campaigned to get the most votes in a global contest to win a trip to Norway to learn to dogsled. Twice I lost.
Lesson Learned: I learned a lot about marketing and putting myself out there. I also learned that there are other ways to get to Norway and learn to dogsled.
Arm Wrestling Championship
I came in second and lost to a woman who was 6'1" and though I didn't know it at the time, I ended up with a hairline fracture in my arm.
Lesson Learned: I was smaller and shorter than the competition, but that didn't stop me from giving it everything I had, even though I was scared.
Two business ideas that I started with great excitement, but didn't have a concrete plan about how to implement those ideas. I lost interest and the businesses never got off the ground.
Lesson Learned: I get business ideas like some people get songs stuck in their heads. I have learned that I need to take time to vet the ideas, plan things out and then implement them. More of a "Ready, Aim, Fire" approach and less, "Fire, Aim, Aim, Aim..." approach.
"Better to try and sometimes fail than to sit tight...and fail for sure." ― Hubspot Culture Code 2013
"We don’t mind making mistakes, we do mind repeating them. Each mistake carries a lesson, we try to make sure we learn it." ― Hubspot Culture Code 2021
"Do not judge me by my successes; judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again." ― Nelson Mandela
"You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you don't try." ― Beverly Sills
"Courage allows the successful woman to fail and learn powerful lessons from the failure. So that in the end, she didn't fail at all." ― Maya Angelou
"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat." ― Theodore Roosevelt